Features

The ability to install vCenter Support Tools — This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat allows you to protect vCenter Server Support Tools when deployed remotely from vCenter. Support Tools include the following services: vSphere Auto Deploy, vSphere ESXi Dump Collector, vSphere Syslog Collector, and vSphere Authentication Proxy.

Note: The term vSphere Client is applicable to both vSphere
Client and VI Client except where VI Client is specifically stated.

Learning about vCenter Server Heartbeat

VMware provides you with manuals that show you how to work with vCenter Server
Heartbeat. Additionally, you can view a video that introduces you to the product
and demonstrates a sample installation. To download and play the video:

Extract the files into a directory on your system and navigate to the vCSHB_QuickStart_VideoInstall
subdirectory.

Double-click the vCSHB_QuickStart_VideoInstall.html file to start the video.

Prior Releases of vCenter Server
Heartbeat

Features and known issues from prior releases of vCenter Server Heartbeat are
described in the release notes for each release. To view release notes for a prior
release of vCenter Server Heartbeat, click the appropriate link:

Windows Server 2008 x86 Standard/Enterprise/Data Center including SP1 and later

Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard/Enterprise/Data Center including SP1 and later

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise/Data Center

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat only supports vCenter Converter Enterprise.
This version of vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support vCenter Converter 3.0.3
(Starter edition) or vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0

Installation Notes for This Release

See the vCenter Server Heartbeat Guides before installing this software. You
must verify that your server environment meets the minimum requirements for the
network option (LAN or WAN) selected. These guides also address minimum hardware/software
requirements and scaling recommendations associated with this release. To view a
guide, click one of the following links:

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat supports the following versions of SQL Server:

SQL Server 2005 SP1 and later

SQL Server 2008 including SP1 and later

SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat supports the following versoins of View Composer:

View Composer 1.1, 2.0, and 2.7

Upgrading to vCenter Server
Heartbeat 6.4 Upgrade 1

Note: If you have successfully installed vCenter Server Heartbeat v6.4, it is not necessary that you upgrade to vCenter Server Heartbeat v6.4 Update 1.

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.4 Update 1 supports upgrades from previously supported versions. The vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.4 Update 1 Installer prompts you to perform an upgrade only when a previously supported version of vCenter Server Heartbeat is found. See the vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guide for installation requirements and VMware Knowledge Base article 1014435 (vCSHB-Ref-1815) for the upgrade procedures. When downgrading to a previous version of vCenter Server Heartbeat, do not use Setup to uninstall plug-ins. For information about performing plug-in installs/uninstalls please refer to VMware Knowledge Base article 1014435 (vCSHB-Ref-1815).

Known Issues

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Setup

Setup — Configuring Management IP addresses with the same prefix as the Public (Principal) IP address may result in an error during switchover/failover
If a management IP addresses is configured with the same prefix as the Public (Principal) IP address, an error may result during switchover/failover.Workaround: Configure Management IP addresses to use a different prefix than the Public (Principal) IP address. See VMware Knowledge Base article 2004926 (vCSHB-Ref-2297) for more information.

Setup — When using the Install Clone technique for a Physical to Virtual architecture, the Secondary server must not have VMware Tools installed during the installation process
If VMware Tools is installed on the Secondary server when using the Install Clone technique in a Physical to Virtual architecture, the packet filter will fail to install.Workaround: Uninstall VMware Tools completely prior to starting the Setup process. Once vCenter Server Heartbeat is installed, reinstall VMware Tool on the Secondary server.

Setup — The recommended minimum display resolution for
Setup and vCenter Server Heartbeat Console is 1024 X 768
Prior to starting Setup or launching the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console, set
the display to a minimum of 1024 X 768.

Setup — Installing vCenter Server Heartbeat using the local Administrator account rather than the Domain Administrator account
If you intend to install vCenter Server Heartbeat using a local Administrator account rather than a Domain Administrator account, please see VMware Knowledge Base article
1022867 (vCSHB-Ref-1916).

Setup — vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support the ` (grave accent) character
vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support usernames and passwords that use the ` (grave accent) character. Change the vCenter Server password before configuring
vCenter Server Heartbeat rules.

Setup — If 10GB Mellanox network cards are present, TCP Offload Engine (TOE) must be disabled on all network cards before installation
If 10GB Mellanox network cards are present, TCP Offload Engine (TOE) must be disabled on all network cards before installing vCenter Server Heartbeat. See VMware Knowledge Base article 1024066 (vCSHB-Ref-1919) for more information about this environment.

Physical to Physical Install — Prior to starting Setup on the Secondary
server, the WebClient service must be set to Manual or Automatic
If VMware License Server is installed, before starting vCenter Server Heartbeat
Setup you must set the WebClient service to Manual or Automatic. Failing to
do so will result in an error preventing Setup from progressing.

Physical to Physical Install— During installation, the backup fails
with the error no drives included in the backup if command-line tools are
missing
During installation, when the backup is taken, it fails with the error the backup unless both the Windows Backup Features and Command-line
Tools are installed.Workaround: Install both the Windows
Backup Features and Command-line Tools and then attempt the backup again.

Physical to Physical Install— During installation on Windows Server
2008 SP2, the restore process may fail with the error System writer is not
found in the backup
During installation, when the restore process runs, it may fail with the error
System writer is not found in the backup. This is caused by a problem with
permissions on the %windir%\winsxs\filemaps folder contents.Workaround:
See Microsoft Knowledge Base article
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsbackup/thread/b5236028-4bfe-400c-90e2-b6d40b08e776
to reset the permissions.

Installing vCenter Server Heartbeat when vCenter Server is not installed locally results in the following error message: Registering with vCenter initialization failed.
Installing vCenter Server Heartbeat when vCenter Server is not installed on the local server results in an error message being displayed although installation is allowed to continue. This error message is expected and can be ignored.

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Administration

After a switch/failover the Update Manager Client Plug-in requires the vSphere Client to be restarted
After a switchover or failover, the Update Manager client connection is lost if the timeout exceeds 15-20 seconds.Workaround: Restart the vSphere Update Manager Client Plug-in once the Update Manager service has started.

After a failover or switchover the vSphere Converter Plug-in may report Unable to connect to vCenter Converter Server
After a switchover or failover, the vSphere Converter Plug-in fails to connect to vCenter Converter Server.Workaround: Restart the vSphere Client.

Following a failover or switchover, the vSphere Client fails to reconnect to vCenter Server
After a switchover or failover, the vSphere Client fails to authenticate as it attempts to reconnect to vCenter Server.Workaround:
To reconnect vSphere Client to vCenter Server, select the use Windows session credentials checkbox.

After a switchover, vCenter Service status displays an
Alert with a red status
After a switchover, vCenter Service reports red for com.vmware.vcIntegrity and
displays the alert message Health data retrieved is invalid.Workaround:
Manually update vci-integrity.xml file with the correct IP address or Fully
Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

When deployed in a WAN configuration, after a switchover
or failover, the Update Manager Server starts with a wrong IP address
This issue appears in WAN deployments, when the network identification of VMware
Update Manager Server is configured using the vCenter Server Heartbeat Primary
server's Principal (Public) IP address, rather than Fully Qualified Domain Name
(FQDN). After a switchover or failover, the Principal (Public) IP address is
changed to the Secondary server's while Update Manager Server remains configured
with the Primary server's Principal (Public) IP address.Workaround:
Change the network address and then re-register Update Manager Server according
to VMware Knowledge Base article
1013222.

In a WAN environment after a switchover or failover, vCenter Orchestrator Server will fail to connect.
When deployed in a WAN environment, after a switchover or failover, vCenter Orchestrator Server fails to connect because the Principal (Public) IP address is not updated. Workaround: Follow the procedure listed in VMware Knowledge Base article 1010470 (vCSHB-Ref-1762) to correct this issue.

DB Files Allocated Space check fails because of a missing
performance object
The VMware SQL Server Plug-in does not evaluate
performance counters on 32-bit versions of SQL Server installed on 64-bit Windows
Operating Systems.Workaround: To prevent alerts from being
raised, disable the rule.

vCenter Server Heartbeat does not start on Secondary server and displays the following error message: VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat failed to initialize: Failed to set packet filter loadstate
This error may be accompanied by an IP conflict and can occur after a Physical to Physical Install on Windows 2008 R2 if the packet driver fails to install because of a permissions error during driver installation.
Workaround: Manually install the packet filter on the Secondary server. See VMware Knowledge Base article 1009567 (vCSHB-Ref-353) for instructions on how to manually install the packet filter.

vCenter Server Heartbeat plug-ins may fail to update ESX 3.5 hosts when these are managed by vCenter Server 4.0 and 4.1
ESX hosts version 3.5 managed by a vCenter Server 4.0 or 4.1 may fail to
successfully reconnect following a failover or switchover.Workaround: Re-register the ESX 3.5 hosts against the vCenter Server.

VMware License Server service cannot be added to protected
set if any of its dependencies are disabled on the passive serverWhen running vCenter Server Heartbeat v4.x with License Server installed on Windows 2008, VMware recommends that the Computer Browser service be changed from Disabled to Manual.

Unable to synchronize after a switchover
With vSphere Client open, performing a switchover using vCenter Server Heartbeat Console can cause a sweep synchronization process resulting in the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console displaying as Out-of-Sync. This can occur when the install path to the license server component is installed below that of vCenter Server.Workaround: Close vSphere Client when performing a switchover using vCenter Server Heartbeat Console.

DNS update fails with exit code 104 at switchover
During a switchover, the DNS update task is run but finishes with exit code 104 although the switchover completes successfully.

Error #2032 displayed when using the Heartbeat Plug-in for vSphere Client for the first time
When selecting the Heartbeat tab of the vSphere Client for the first time results in the error #2032: Stream Error. URL: <url to textLayout %version% .swz>.Workaround: Connect to the internet prior to selecting the Heartbeat tab of the vSphere Client for the first time. Subsequent use of the Heartbeat tab will not produce the error.

Heartbeat tab in vSphere Client may fail to display properly after a switchover
The Heartbeat tab in vSphere Client may fail to display properly after performing a Make Active operation.Workaround: Restart the vSphere Client.

VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat Log Collector fails to collect logs from the remote server
When attempting to collect vCenter Server Heartbeat logs, the log collector fails to collect the logs from the remote server.Workaround: Collect the logs from each server separately. See VMware Knowledge Base article 2004377 (vCSHB-Ref-2296) for more information on how to collect the logs separately.

Clicking Make Active in the Heartbeat tab of the vSphere Client results in a Security Certificate being presented for acceptance
If the Heartbeat vSphere Plug-in is being used during a switchover or failover the user will be asked to accept a new Security Certificate each time the server roles change.

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Plug-Ins

State of vSphere Client plug-in not replicated from active
server to passive server
The enabled / disabled state of plug-ins in the vSphere Client are not replicated
from the active server to the passive server.

Installing vSphere Client Plug-in results in an error
Installing vCenter Plug-ins through the vSphere Client requires the vSphere
Client to connect and download the plug-ins through the Principal (Public) IP
address. The Principal (Public) network adapter must be first in the bind order.
If vSphere Client is configured with any other IP address, then the installation
will fail.

Resolved Issues

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Setup

Setup — Setup is unable to complete when some components are installed remote from vCenter Server. The user is unable to click Next on the application protection screen, for example, when Support Tools or Update Manager require protection.Note: If you have successfully installed vCenter Server Heartbeat v6.4, it is not necessary that you upgrade to vCenter Server Heartbeat v6.4 Update 1.